Cycles of alcohol dependence: frequency-domain analyses of daily drinking logs for matched alcohol-dependent and nondependent subjects.

OBJECTIVE

This study was undertaken to evaluate possible differences in the patterns of daily alcohol use, in terms of periodicity or rhythmicity of consumption, between alcohol-dependent and nondependent drinkers otherwise matched on the basis of quantity and frequency of alcohol use.

METHOD

Frequency-domain time-series analysis was applied to daily drinking logs of six alcohol-dependent and six nondependent male subjects matched for consumption quantity and frequency who had participated in a larger 112-day study of alcohol consumption patterns using an innovative touch-tone telephone method of daily self-report. Spectral analysis partitioned variance in the drinking logs among statistically independent frequency cycles of relatively heavier and lighter drinking. The percentage of variance accounted for by fast (< 4 days), medium (7 +/- 3 days) and slow (> 10 days) cycle periods was compared for diagnostic group differences.

RESULTS

Effective matching precluded consumption quantity, frequency or variability differences between the groups. Spectral analysis of the time-series data revealed group differences in the rhythmicity, or cyclical characteristics, of the drinking logs. The drinking logs of alcohol-dependent subjects exhibited more pronounced weekly cycles, whereas drinking logs of nondependent subjects fluctuated over longer periods.

CONCLUSIONS

Temporal patterns of regular alcohol use may be an important behavioral variable influencing the seriousness of consequences associated with drinking, which may partly elucidate the relatively weak relationship between dependence symptomatology and consumption quantity-frequency.